ISLAMABAD - Punjab-A and KP-A moved into the semifinals of the National U-19 Hockey Championship 2019 after registering contrasting victories against their respective opponents in the quarterfinals played here at Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh Stadium, Rawalpindi on Thursday.
In the first quarterfinal, Punjab-A defeated Punjab C by 4-2. Zulqarnan, Rizwan Ali, Ghazanfar Ali and Ali Raza scored a goal each for the winning team, while Muhammad Rabiaul Hassan and Abdur Rehman scored a goal each for the losers. In the second quarterfinal, Punjab-B beat Sindh-A by 2-1. Muhammad Abdullah and Abuzar scored one goal each for the winners, while Arslan Haidri scored consolation goal for Sindh-A.
In the third quarterfinal, KP-A thrashed Sindh-B by 6-0. Usman scored a superb hat-trick while Ali, Asad and Jibran Hamza scored one goal each for the winning team. In the fourth and last quarterfinal, KP-B beat Balochistan 2-1. Zareen and Ismail scored one goal each for the winning team while Younus scored the only goal for Balochistan.
The semifinals will be played tomorrow (Saturday) where Punjab-A will take on Punjab-B in the first semifinal while KP-A will vie against KP-B in the second semifinal.